Each product is formulated with a dual-purpose philosophy aimed at simplifying daily hair routines by providing immediate styling benefits while purportedly improving hair health over time. Prominently featured on the brand’s website, directly beneath an image of a dancing Lawrence, is the tagline: "Less time fixing your hair, more time living." While this ethos reflects Lawrence’s widely appreciated, laid-back persona, industry observers note that relaxed brand vibes alone cannot guarantee product performance.
To ensure high-grade formulations, Lawrence partnered with Arcaea, a biology-focused beauty company founded by chemical bioengineer Jasmina Aganovic. Aganovic, who also serves as CEO of the biotech fragrance brand Future Society—known for using biotechnology to revive the scents of extinct flowers—brings considerable scientific expertise to the collaboration. The pairing of Lawrence’s massive global fanbase with Aganovic’s scientific background initially suggested the venture would be an immediate success.
Instead, the brand’s rollout was met with immediate internet skepticism and public backlash regarding the underlying motivations of the launch. When Lawrence joined Instagram in September seemingly out of the blue, adopting her signature self-deprecating tone, fans were initially thrilled. Following the Mes° announcement, however, that social media debut was re-evaluated by critics as a calculated, inauthentic marketing ploy designed to prime audiences for the brand. Online commentators also scrutinized the actor’s appearance, questioning whether she had undergone an upper blepharoplasty and sparking widespread debates about cosmetic procedures.
Further complicating the launch, comparisons quickly emerged between Mes° and another hair-care brand called Messy, which was launched last year by Drybar cofounder Alli Webb. While packaging and product formulations show few similarities, some online commentators pointed out that the brand names and core messages overlap significantly. In an Instagram video addressing the situation, Webb stated that she had been inundated with messages from concerned friends and followers pointing out the parallels between the two brands, both of which center their identities around concepts of imperfection and being messy.
Despite the surrounding controversy, celebrity beauty brands remain a powerful market force. Successful lines like Rhode, Rare Beauty, and Fenty Beauty have achieved massive commercial success and earned dedicated followings among beauty editors and consumers alike. However, the industry has also witnessed notable failures and closures. This year alone has seen the shuttering of lines by Scarlett Johansson and Gwen Stefani, joining a long historical list of defunct celebrity ventures, such as Jessica Simpson’s former line of edible cosmetics.
With so much online chatter focused on the launch drama, actual consumer reviews of the Mes° products have been scarce. To evaluate how the line performs in practice, editors put the three inaugural products through real-world testing to assess their efficacy, usability, and overall value.
The Multitask Repair Mask is a reparative treatment intended to be applied to dry hair and left in for a minimum of five minutes before washing. It can also double as a styling agent to achieve a wet look or a slicked-back style.
Testing the mask, beauty director Sarah Kinonen noted that the requirement to apply a treatment to dry, unwashed hair ran counter to her usual hair-washing habits. After working the glue-like consistency into her roots and ends, she waited five minutes before showering, shampooing twice, and following up with a standard conditioner. While she woke up with hair that was notably soft and required minimal combing, she concluded that the extra step of applying a treatment to dry hair did not fit easily into her low-maintenance routine, adding that she would never use the product to achieve a wet styling look.
Social director Kassidy Silva also tested the mask, noting an initial fishy, plastic scent that quickly dissipated. While she appreciated not having to wet her hair prior to application and found the product left her locks feeling soft and silky, she felt it functioned more as a light refresh rather than a heavy-duty reparative treatment capable of combating daily heat styling damage.
The Good Roots Volume Mist is formulated as a spray that simultaneously lifts hair at the roots and reduces scalp oil. It can be applied to dry hair as a daytime refresh or to damp hair prior to blow-drying.
Senior staff writer Elizabeth Gulino tested the mist on day-four dry hair during the workday. She observed that the spray left her scalp damp for nearly half an hour before subsiding, ultimately providing modest lift and a grippier texture. When tested on damp hair prior to blow-drying, however, the results were more favorable, providing noticeable volume without weighing the hair down. When used a third time on dry second-day hair, the mist again provided root grit and volume, though Gulino noted it could not fully substitute for a traditional dry shampoo when hair was heavily soiled.
Silva also tested the volume mist on her fluffy bob and found it effective at providing a lasting volume boost with minimal product usage. However, she observed that it imparted a gritty texture that leaned slightly closer to a greasy finish than desired.
The Off-Duty Restyling Serum is designed to be used on dry, unwashed hair to smooth flyaways, reshape styles, and refresh the hair between washes.
Managing editor Alessandra Foresto tested the serum both as a post-shower detangler and heat protectant and as a dry-hair restyling product. She found that the serum left her hair less soft and harder to detangle than her usual products, while also imparting a sticky residue. Rather than taming frizz, she reported that it left her hair feeling and looking frizzier even after sleeping in a protective bun.
Conversely, Gulino tried a few drops of the serum on her thick, dry hair the following morning and experienced favorable results, noting that it subtly tamed her flyaways and controlled her hair effectively enough that she continued using the product.
